I’m very pleased to announce that Patch.com has asked me to be a panelist discussing online marketing success for small businesses at their inaugural Main Street U Summit, here in Old Town Alexandria, next Thursday November 7, 2012 from 8:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. – and that I can get you into the event at no charge!

Patch.com is a nationwide company with a hyper-local focus. They are basically the online equivalent of the old neighborhood newspaper. From an advertising standpoint, their sole purpose is to connect local consumers with local businesses, which means their business model is directly in alignment with mine.

I have written previously about my positive feelings regarding Patch.com and how I believe every local business should consider adding them to their marketing mix.

In addition to their advertising and content sharing capabilities, Patch.com is also a powerful Local SEO platform. I frequently come across their listings on the front page of local Google search results for a variety of vertical industries.

I’ve just returned from an interesting short seminar entitled Optimizing Your Local Online Presence presented by some local Patch.com reps at Connect113 in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia.

I am familiar with local Internet marketing techniques but was only tangentially aware of Patch.com which is kind of like a combination of an old-fashioned local newspaper with a new-fangled online community and business directory.

I’m not going to give a long treatise on the vagaries of Patch.com. Instead I encourage you to do five things:

Spend some time browsing the web site to get a feel for what it’s all about

Become a member of your local Patch in your company’s name

Create or Claim and Optimize your company’s listing on Patch

Subscribe to their daily newsletter

Post comments and reviews in your company’s name

I don’t think your Patch.com listing will be as important or beneficial as say your Google Places listing. But I am convinced that this is a critical local online community that you need to be an active part of.

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The Customer Factory provides marketing training, classes, seminars, workshops, courses and classes to small business owners in the United States, Canada, Central America,South America, the United Kingdom, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and New Zealand. We offer online marketing training, live marketing training and small business marketing consulting.